Fuel cell layer with reactor frame

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a fuel cell layer with frames with a central axis comprising: at least a first and second unit fuel cell, wherein the first and second unit fuel cells are disposed adjacent each other to form a front side and back side of the fuel cell layer; a front plenum comprising fuel communicating with the front side; and a back oxidant plenum comprising fuel communicating with the back side, and wherein each unit fuel cell comprises: a front and back process layer; a front and back cavity formed between the back process layers and the front process layer of adjacent unit fuel cells; a front perimeter barrier disposed on the back process layer substantially surrounding the back cavity; and a back perimeter barrier disposed on the front process layer substantially surrounding the front cavity and wherein the front cavity is in communication with the front side and the back cavity is in communication with the back side and wherein at least one of process layers facilitates a transport process between the reactant plenums; and wherein at least one of the unit fuel cells comprise at least one frame formed from one of the process layers, at least one of the perimeter barriers, and at least one of the cavities; and a process layer; at least one perimeter barrier disposed on the process layer; and at least one cavity formed in each reactor frame, wherein each cavity is in communication with one side of the fuel cell layer, and wherein at least one of the process layers transports ions between the plenums.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a fuel cell layer made of one or more unit fuel cells, wherein at least one unit fuel cell has at least one reactor frame. Each reactor frame has a process layer that facilitates a transport process between the reactant plenums in the reactor.

BACKGROUND

Fuel cells are comprised of chemical reactors. The size of the chemical reactors put constraints on the ability to reduce the size of a fuel cell to micro-dimensions.

Existing fuel cells generally are a stacked assembly of individual fuel cells, with each stack producing high current at low voltage. The typical reactor construction involves reactant distribution and current collection devices brought into contact with a layered electrochemical assembly consisting of a gas diffusion layer, and a first catalyst layer. With the exception of high temperature fuel cells, such as molten carbonate cells, most proton exchange membrane, direct methanol, solid oxide or alkaline fuel cells have a layered planar structure where the layers are first formed as distinct components and then assembled into a functional fuel cell stack by placing the layers in contact with each other.

One major problem with the layered planar structure fuel cell has been that the layers must be held in intimate electrical contact with each other, which if intimate contact does not occur the internal resistance of the stack increases, which decreases the overall efficiency of the fuel cell.

A second problem with the layered planar structured fuel cell has been that with larger surface areas, problems occur to maintain consistent contact with both cooling and water removal in the inner recesses of the layered planar structured fuel cell. Also, if the overall area of the cell becomes too large then there are difficulties creating the contacting forces needed to maintain the correct fluid flow distribution of reactant gases over the electrolyte surface.

Existing devices also have the feature that with the layered planar structure fuel cell since both fuel and oxidant are required to flow within the plane of the layered planar structured fuel cell, at least 4 and up to 6 distinct layers have been required to form a workable cell, typically with a first flowfield, a first gas diffusion layer, a first catalyst layer, a first electrolyte layer, a second catalyst layer, a second gas diffusion layer, a second flowfield layer and a separator. These layers are usually manufactured into two separate fuel cell components and then a fuel cell stack is formed by bringing layers into contact with each other. When contacting the layers, care must be taken to allow gas diffusion within the layers while preventing gas leaking from the assembled fuel cell stack. Furthermore, all electrical current produced by the fuel cell in the stack must pass through each layer in the stack, relying on the simple contacting of distinct layers to provide an electrically conductive path. As a result, both sealing and conductivity require the assembled stack to be clamped together with significant force in order to activate perimeter seals and reduce internal contact resistance.

Electrical energy created in the fuel cell has to travel between layers of material compressed together before it can be used. These layers include membrane electrode assemblies, gas diffusion layers, and separator plates. The resistance to the transfer of electrical energy through each layer and between layers also affects the performance of the fuel cell. The contact pressure and contact area that can be achieved between the layers of the fuel cell stack are directly proportional to the conductivity of these components and hence the performance of the fuel cell stacks.

Laying out layers of material and compressing them together using the brute force approach of traditional fuel cell stacks is inefficient and expensive. In addition, such designs suffer from long term performance degradation because of thermal and mechanical cycles that occur during the operation of the fuel cells. A need has existed for less expensive and more efficient fuel cell layers.

In manufacturing fuel cell stack assemblies using this typical layering approach of all the components, it is difficult to accurately align the layers. Inaccurate alignment has a detrimental effect on the performance and durability of the fuel cell stacks.

A need has existed for a micro, or small fuel cells having high volumetric power density. A need has existed for micro fuel cells capable of low cost manufacturing because of having fewer parts than the layered planar structure fuel cell. A need has existed for a micro fuel cell having the ability to utilize a wide variety of electrolytes. A need has existed for a micro fuel cell, which has substantially reduced contact resistance within the fuel cell. A need has existed for a micro fuel cell, which has the ability to scale to high power has long been desired. A need has existed for micro fuel cells having larger reactant surface areas. A need has existed for fuel cells capable of being scaled to micro-dimensions. A need has existed for fuel cells capable of being connected together without the need for external components for connecting the fuel cells together.

A need has existed for a compact fuel cell with high aspect ratio cavities. The aspect ratio of the fuel cell is defined as the ratio of the fuel cell cavity height to the width. Increasing this aspect ratio is beneficial for increasing the efficiency of the fuel cell.

A need has existed to develop fuel cells topologies or fuel cell architectures that allow increased active areas to be included in the same volume, i.e. higher density of active areas. This will allow fuel cells to be optimized in a manner different than being pursued by most fuel cell developers today.

The present invention meets these needs.

SUMMARY

The present invention relates to a fuel cell layer with a central axis that includes one or more unit fuel cells, a front fuel plenum, and a back oxidant plenum. The first and second unit fuel cells are disposed adjacent to each other to form a front side and a back side of the fuel cell layer. The front fuel plenum communicates with the front side, and the back oxidant plenum communicates with the back side.

Each unit fuel cell is made of a front and back process layer, a front and back cavity, and a front and back perimeter barrier. The front cavity is formed between the front and back process layers and a back cavity formed between the back process layers.

A front perimeter barrier is disposed on the back process layer substantially surrounding the back cavity and a back perimeter barrier disposed on the front process layer substantially surrounding the front cavity. The front cavity is in communication with the front side and the back cavity is in communication with the back side.

At least one of the process layers facilitates a transport process between the fuel and oxidant plenums and wherein at least one of the unit fuel cells comprises at least one frame formed from one of the process layers; at least one of the perimeter barriers, at least one of the cavities. Each cavity is in communication with one side of the fuel cell layer and the process layer facilitates a transport process between the plenums.

Each unit fuel cell is made of one or more reactor frames. The reactor frames include one or more of the process layers, one or more of the perimeter barriers disposed on the process layer, and one or more cavities are formed in each reactor frame. The resulting assemblage is configured so the cavities are in communication with one side of the fuel cell layer.

The fuel cell layer can be attached to an electrical appliance. The fuel cell layer is a source of power for running the electrical appliances.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts a front perspective view of a thin flat construction of the fuel cell layer.

FIG. 2 depicts a curvilinear fuel cell layer.

FIG. 3 depicts an embodiment where the unit fuel cells are in a cylindrical shape and are oriented perpendicular to the axis of the fuel cell layer.

FIG. 4 depicts another embodiment where the unit fuel cells are parallel to the axis of the fuel cell layer.

FIG. 5 depicts unit fuel cells at arbitrary angles to each other and the fuel cell layer having an irregular three dimensional shape.

FIG. 6 depicts a cutaway perspective view of a unit fuel cell.

FIG. 7 depicts an exploded perspective view of a unit fuel cell with one frame.

FIG. 8 depicts an exploded perspective view of a unit fuel cell constructed from two frames.

FIG. 9 depicts a view of two unit fuel cells, each with two frames and two reactant plenums embedded in each frame and two cavities.

FIG. 10 depicts a cross sectional view of two unit fuel cells, each with a portion of a reactant plenum embedded in the frames.

FIG. 11 depicts two unit fuel cells with two frames with embedded plenums.

FIG. 12 depicts an undulating fuel cell.

FIG. 13 depicts a schematic view of a portion of a bipolar fuel cell layer with frames.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a portion of a unipolar edge collected fuel cell layer with frames.

FIG. 15 is a view of an electrical appliance using the fuel cell layer of the invention.

The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before explaining the present embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the particular descriptions and that it can be practiced or carried out in various ways.

The use of frames in the fuel cell layer simplifies the overall design, reduces the number of components needed in construction, and simplifies the construction steps needed to make the device. The frame construction also increases the precision of alignment between process layers and perimeter barriers used in the unit fuel cells.

When composite frames are used, the frame based design simplifies the task of sealing layers by only having to bond similar materials to each other.

With reference to the Figures, FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a fuel cell layer (10). FIG. 1 depicts a thin flat construction embodiment of the fuel cell layer.

FIG. 2 depicts a thin curvilinear embodiment of the fuel cell layer (10). Throughout the figures, the fuel cell layer (10) is depicted having a central axis (11).

FIG. 1 shows a thin flat fuel cell layer with at least 10 unit fuel cells having an overall dimension which is between 1 centimeter and 10 centimeters in length, between 5 millimeters and 80 millimeters in width, and about 0.5 millimeters to 4 millimeters in thickness, with each unit fuel cell has 2 process layers. The process layer can be formed from two or more thin layers that are placed in contact with each other.

FIG. 2, which shows a curvilinear version of a fuel cell layer of the invention, having multiple unit fuel cells, (12, 14, 16, and 18).

FIG. 3 is a cylindrical version of a fuel cell layer with an overall diameter between 1 centimeter and 5 centimeters and a height of between 5 millimeters and 80 millimeters and a thickness between 0.5 millimeters and 5 millimeters. Other shapes besides a cylindrical shape can be used. As an alternative the fuel cell layer (10) can be a prismatic shape, a boxlike shape or an irregular three dimensional shape.

The fuel cell layer (10) can have a variable thickness; variable thickness can mean that one individual unit fuel cell can be thicker than an adjacent unit fuel cell.

The fuel cell layer (10) is constructed of two or more unit fuel cells. The design of the fuel cell layer (10) can range from 2 unit fuel cells to 50,000 or more unit fuel cells to be adjoined to create the fuel cell layer. Preferably, between 2 unit fuel cells and 300 unit fuel cells are used in the fuel cell layer with a preferred embodiment of between 2 unit fuel cells and 100 unit fuel cells. FIG. 1 in particular shows a fuel cell layer with 11 unit fuel cells connected together. The first unit fuel cell is (12), a second unit fuel cell (14) and nine other unit fuel cells (16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 31).

The first and second unit fuel cells are disposed adjacent each other and form a front side (32) and a back side (34) for the fuel cell layer. The front side (32) communicates with the oxidant plenum (36) and the back side (34) communicates with the fuel plenum (38). In another version of the invention, the unit fuel cells can be oriented to form the fuel plenum (38).

The fuel cell layer (10) includes an oxidant plenum (36) and a fuel plenum (38). The oxidant plenum (36) is enclosed by a structure (40). The structure can either be a closed container or open to ambient atmosphere. FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of the structure (40) open to ambient atmosphere. When the oxidant plenum is open to the atmosphere the enclosing structure (40) is optional. The structure (40) when open to the atmosphere, adds structural support to the oxidant plenum.

The fuel plenum (38) is enclosed by a device (42) which is similar to structure (40). The device (42) can be a closed container or open to ambient atmosphere. When the device (42) is open to the atmosphere, it adds structural support to the fuel plenum. FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment wherein the device (42) is a closed container with a solid back wall (43).

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, the unit fuel cells (12, 14, 16, and 18) are disposed roughly parallel to each other and then the unit fuel cells are disposed horizontally around the central axis (11).

FIG. 4 depicts an embodiment where the unit fuel cells (12, 14, 16, and 18) are disposed roughly parallel to each other than vertically around the central axis (11).

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment wherein the unit fuel cells (12, 14, 1,6, and 18) are disposed roughly parallel to each other but at an arbitrary angle to the central axis (11) of the fuel cell layer (10) and at arbitrary angles relative to other unit fuel cells. The unit fuel cells can be disposed in groups wherein the unit fuel cells are parallel to each other, and then each group can be disposed at an arbitrary angle to adjacent groups.

FIG. 6 depicts a cutaway perspective view of one embodiment of an individual unit fuel cell (12) The unit fuel cell comprises a front process layer (48) and a back process layer (50). The process layers (48 and 50) are shown in this embodiment as thin sheets with each process layer having, preferably, a thickness between 1 nanometer and 2 centimeters. As an alternative, the one or more of the process layers can have a thickness different from another process layer. It is contemplated that the process layers may not be thin sheets. It is also contemplated that the thin sheets can be made from one of a variety of materials.

The process layer material could be an electrolyte, an ion exchange membrane, an electrical conductor, and combinations of these. For example, a workable ion exchange membrane would be Nafion™ available from E.I. DuPont DeNamours of Wilmington, Del.

An electrical conductor which is contemplated for use in the invention would be a thin film of metal, such as copper, stainless steel, aluminum or tin, or a silver filled epoxy such as model number TF12202 from Tech Film of Peabody, Mass.

Alternatively, each process layer can be made of a filled metal composite, a filled micro-structure of polymer, filled epoxy composite, graphite composite, or combinations of these materials. Filled metal composites would be a stainless steel filled with carbon, such as those available from Angstrom Power Inc. of Vancouver, Canada. Filled micro-structures of polymers include Primea™ membrane available from Gore Industries of Elktown, Md. Filled epoxy composites include those available from Tech Film of Peabody, Mass. Graphite composites include Grafoil™ available from Graftek of Wilmington, Del.

It is also contemplated that the fuel cell layer can have a first process layer that performs a different process from the second process layer, for example, the first process layer can be an electrolyte and the second process layer can be an electrical conductor.

At least one process layer must be ionically conductive in order to facilitate the transport of ions. Optionally, at least one process layer may be made electronically conductive to transport electrons between fuel cells. The ion transporting process layer can be made from a proton exchange membrane, an electrolyte filled microporous structure, a liquid electrolyte trapped in a mesh, and combinations of these. The electron transporting process layer can be made from an electrical conductor, a filled metal composite, a filled micro-structure of a polymer, a filled epoxy composite, a graphite composite, or combinations thereof. In both cases, the process layer should be for a bas barrier to prevent the mixing of fuel and oxidant uncontrollably.

Returning to FIG. 6, each individual unit fuel cell has a front cavity (52) and a back cavity (54). The cavities (52 and 54) are formed between the front and back process layers (48 and 50). Each individual unit fuel cell includes a front perimeter barrier (56) and a back perimeter barrier (58). The front perimeter barrier (56) is located on the back process layer (50) substantially surrounding the back cavity (54). The front perimeter barrier (56) can optionally completely enclose the back cavity (54). Likewise, the back perimeter barrier (58) is located on the front process layer (48) substantially surrounding the front cavity (52). The back perimeter barrier (58) can optionally completely enclose the front cavity (52).

The perimeter barriers ensure that reactant from one reactant plenum which connects to one of the cavities, does not migrate into another reactant plenum which connects to the other cavity. More specifically, when the fuel cell layer functions with fuel cells as the unit fuel cells, with oxidant in one of the reactant plenums and fuel in the other reactant plenum, the perimeter barriers prevent the uncontrolled mixing of fuel and oxidant.

The perimeter barriers keep the reactant from migrating by the material and/or the form of the perimeter barriers. Usable materials for the perimeter barriers include metal, such as stainless steel; silicone such as RTV™ those available from Dow Corning of Midland, Mich.; a rubber in the form of seals such as those available from the Apple Rubber Company of Lancaster, N.Y.; a polyamide, such as nylon, such as a nylon 6 or a nylon 6,6 available from DuPont; synthetic rubber such as BUNA available from Edegem, Belgium; epoxy, such as those available from EPO Tech of Billerica, Mass.; polytetrafluoroethylene, also available as Teflon™ from various sources; polyvinyldiflouride, known as Kynar™, available from Atofina Chemicals of Philadelphia, Pa.; composites thereof, laminates thereof, alloys thereof, and blends thereof. Usable forms for the perimeter barriers include micro-structures or three-dimensional structures that create a tortuous path for the reactant. In some cases, the perimeter barriers can employ both the use of materials and form to prevent the migration of the reactant to another reactant plenum.

One or more of the cavities can be filled partially or completely with a material to aid in the transport of reactant, by- product of the reaction caused by the reactants, or transport of attributes of reactant. A porous media, such as those available from Angstrom Power Inc. of Vancouver, Canada can be used to partially or completely fill the cavities. In a preferred embodiment, the cavity is filled 100% with the porous media although the cavity can be filled as little as 5% with the porous media.

Continuing with FIG. 6, the back perimeter barrier (58) forms an assemblage with a front face (44) and a back face (46). The front cavity (52) communicates with the front side (32) of the fuel cell layer which was shown in FIG. 1. The back cavity (54) communicates with the back side (34) of the fuel cell layer also shown in FIG. 1.

Examples of fuels usable in this invention include hydrogen, liquid phase hydrocarbons, gas phase hydrocarbons, by-products of the reaction and combinations of these. Hydrogen is a typical fuel reactant when coupled with oxygen as the oxidant. Liquid phase hydrocarbons which can serve as reactants include methanol, ethanol, butanol, and formic acid. Gas phase hydrocarbons include propane, butane, methane, and combinations of these.

A typical fuel cell layer has an overall length between 1 millimeter and 100 centimeters; an overall width of the fuel cell layer is between 1 millimeter and 50 centimeters; and an overall thickness between the front face and the back face of the fuel cell layer is between 100 nanometers and 5 centimeters.

The fuel cell layer assembled according to the present invention provides high surface area process layers which are in communication with the reactant plenums through the front or back cavities. The front or back cavities have high aspect ratio's, wherein the distance from the front or back face to the opposite side of the cavity is much larger than the height of the front or back perimeter barrier.

The reactor preferably is made wherein the aspect ratio of at least one cavity is >1 cm/cm, more preferably is between 1 cm/cm and 100 cm/cm and most preferably is between 2.5 cm/cm and 15 cm/cm.

The selection of the aspect ratios of the cavities must be carefully chosen to accommodate the properties of the porous media which has been utilized in the cavities. For example, the transport of fuel and oxidant from the plenums to the gas diffusion electrode formed in the cavities is primarily by diffusion the aspect ratio must be maintained so that the concentration of reactants is sufficiently large to sustain the reactions throughout the electrode. At least one low aspect ratio cavity can be at least partially filled with a catalyst to promote the function of the fuel cell.

In operation reactants move from the reactant plenums into the front or back cavities of the unit fuel cells to come into contact with the process layers. In a preferred embodiment the reactants move in and out of the cavities through diffusion only.

In an alternative embodiment the reactant transport into and out of the cavities is aided by forced convection or by the forced flow through a micro-structure embedded within at least on of the front or back cavities.

FIG. 7 depicts an exploded perspective view of a unit fuel cell with one frame. Frame (62) serves as a process layer (48) and as a perimeter barrier (56) with a formed cavity (54).

FIG. 8 depicts an exploded perspective view of a unit fuel cell constructed from two frames (62 and 64). Each frame serves as a process layer and as a perimeter barrier and contains a formed cavity. The two process layers can have different functions in this embodiment, for example the first process layer can serve to be electrically conductive and the second process layer can serve to be electrically insulating. In one embodiment, at least one frame is preferably made ionically conductive by either forming the frame from an ionic conductor or rendering a portion of a nonconducting frame ionically conductive.

Each unit fuel cell can be made of one or more frames (62 and 64). The frames can be made of one material, so that the frames can function as both a perimeter barrier and as a process layer.

The frames which are made from one material can be made by stamping, embossing, ablating, machining, molding, casting, water jetting, or otherwise gouging, or chemically etching a substrate. Typical substrates can be stainless steel, Nafion™ a composite, a metal filled composite, electrolyte filled composites, or combinations of these.

The frames can selectively be porous and used within the scope of this invention. Preferably, the frames are the same dimension as the components of the unit fuel cells which they replace. Two types of frames can be used on the fuel cell, an electronically conducting frame and an ionically conducting frame. The electronically conducting frame is made from an electronically conducting material or alternatively, is made conductive by filling a porous region with a nonporous conductive material. The ionically conductive frame is made from an ionic conductor, such as Nafion™ from DuPont and if Nafion™ is used, then the perimeter barrier if also formed from Nafion™. Alternatively, the frame material can be made from electrically insulating material such as polyethylene with a porous region that has been filled with Nafion™ to render the region ionically conductive. The frames can be made of identical materials or the frame can each have a different material.

The frames are typically one piece structures to advantageously reduce the number of parts. The one piece construction also makes it simpler to align a fuel cell to form the fuel cell layer making the process for making fuel cell layers cheaper and quicker than those currently available. By using a one piece construction of frames, there is no need for the extra step of bonding dissimilar materials together such as bonding a perimeter barrier material to a process layer material. Thus a fuel cell layer using frames will have better integrity and fewer maintenance issues than multipart constructions.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a unit fuel cell with one frame, two cavities and a back process layer (50). In particular, the unit fuel cell has a frame (62), a first cavity (52), and a second cavity (54). The cavities are surrounded by integral perimeter barriers (56 and 58). The unit fuel cell is completed by joining the frame (62) to a second process layer (182).

FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view of a fuel cell layer with two unit fuel cells (12 and 14) and a portion of a reactant plenum (150) embedded in three frames (62, 64, and 154). In this embodiment, the two unit fuel cells are connected by the frames (62 and 64) and the back perimeter barrier (160). The notion of a common plenum on one side of the fuel cell layer advantageously enables one reactant to be fed in a controlled manner while the other reactant plenum is open to the environment. Preferably the common plenum is the fuel plenum.

Tonically conductive process layer (48) and conductive process layer (156) are used in the unit fuel cells.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of two unit fuel cells (12 and 14), each with two reactor frames (62, 64, 155 and 157). The reactor frames can be used to house or embed one or more of the reactant plenums. This Figure also depicts a portion of the two reactant plenums (150 and 152) embedded in each reactor frame (62, 64, 155, and 157) similar to FIG. 10.

FIG. 11 also shows that the perimeter barriers used on the process layers of the unit fuel cells have dimensions of height and width. The front and back perimeter barrier height (57 and 59) respectively have a preferred dimension ranging from 100 nanometers to 10 millimeters. The front and back perimeter barrier width (61 and 63) respectively have a preferred dimension ranging from 10 nanometers to 5 millimeters. In still another embodiment, the front and back perimeter barrier widths can vary, being less on one portion of the perimeter barrier and greater on another portion of the perimeter barrier.

FIG. 12 shows a frame (62) with an undulating process layer (60). The surface area of the process layer is increased with the undulating construction, thereby increasing the capacity of the fuel cell layer for the amount of reaction that can be done.

Undulating in the context of this application refers to non-planar process layers, such as layers which are sinusoidal in shape, or arcs, or irregular in some other manner. It is contemplated that some of the process layers can be undulating while remaining process layers can be planar and still form a usable fuel cell layer.

FIG. 13 depicts a schematic view of a bipolar fuel cell layer with frames showing two unit fuel cells (12 and 14) connected in a bipolar manner. When forming a bipolar fuel cell layer, each unit fuel cell comprises one process layer that is ionically conductive (48) and one process layer that is electronically conductive (50 a).

In a bipolar configuration, as shown in FIG. 13, the porous conductive layer (69) electrically connects the catalyst layer (71) to the electronically conductive process layers (50). The catalyst layers (71, 71 a, and 71 b) connects directly to the ionically conductive process layer (48). The porous layer can be made of at least two layers of differing porous materials (69 a, 69 b, 69 c, and 69 d), which electrically connects the catalyst layer (71 a and 71 b) to the electronically conductive process layer (50 a), enabling current to flow between electrodes of adjacent unit fuel cells.

FIG. 14 depicts a cross sectional schematic of an alternate embodiment of the fuel cell layer showing two unit fuel cells (12 and 14) with frames connected in an edge collected manner. In this embodiment, both of the process layers of the unit fuel cells are ionically conducting process layer. In this embodiment the catalyst layers (71 and 71 a) adjoin the process layers (48 and 50) to form two identical polarity electrodes (190 and 192). The current flowing into or out of the identical polarity electrodes (190 and 192) passes through at least one porous conductive layer (69). The flow of current through the porous conductive layers creates an edge collected uni-polar fuel cell layer (10).

The catalyst layer of either the bipolar or edge collected configuration can be composed of a noble metal catalyst, a transition metal catalyst, alloys thereof and combinations thereof. The catalyst layer can be a carbon supported catalyst or a thin film catalyst formed by spraying, sputtering, electroplating, printing, pulsed laser deposition, or combinations thereof. Alternatively, the catalyst layer can be cracked.

FIG. 15 depicts an embodiment wherein the fuel cell layer (10) is a frame based fuel cell layer used in conjunction with an electrical appliance (72). The electrical appliance (72) uses the fuel cell layer (10) as a source of electrical power.

In this embodiment, the unit fuel cells each comprise one or more process layers of electrolyte (73). One or more of the cavities include a first catalyst (74) forming at least one anode (80). One or more other cavities include a second catalyst (78) forming at least one cathode (76). The anode (80) and the cathode (76) are disposed on either side of the electrolyte (73). The frame (62) serves as a separator between unit fuel cells as well as forming the two perimeter barriers (56 and 58).

One of the reactant plenums (38) contains an oxidant (82), such as oxygen, and the other reactant plenums (36) contain a fuel (84), such as hydrogen. The anode (80) and the cathode (76) connect to the electrical appliance and provide power.

The embodiments have been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the embodiments, especially to those skilled in the art. 

1. A fuel cell layer with frames comprising: a. at least a first unit fuel cell and a second unit fuel cell, wherein the first unit fuel cell and the second unit fuel cell are disposed adjacent each other to form a front side and a back side of the fuel cell layer; b. a front plenum comprising a fuel communicating with the front side; and c. a back oxidant plenum comprising an oxidant communicating with the back side, and d. wherein the first unit fuel cell and the second unit fuel cell comprise: i. a front process layer; ii. a back process layer; iii. a front cavity formed between the front process layer and back process layer; iv. a back cavity formed between the back process layer of the first unit fuel cell and the front process layer of the second unit fuel cell; v. a front perimeter barrier disposed on the back process layer substantially surrounding the back cavity; vi. a back perimeter barrier disposed on the front process layer substantially surrounding the front cavity, and wherein the front cavity is in communication with the front side of the fuel cell layer, and wherein the back cavity is in communication with the back side of the fuel cell layer, and wherein the front process layer or the back process layer facilitates a transport process between the reactant front plenum and the back oxidant plenum; vii. a first frame formed from the front process layer, the front perimeter barrier, and the front cavity, or formed from the back process layer, the back perimeter barrier and the back cavity.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first unit fuel cell comprises the first frame and a second frame, wherein the first frame is formed from the front process layer, the front perimeter barrier and the front cavity, and wherein the second frame is formed from the back process layer, the back perimeter barrier and the back cavity.
 4. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first frame comprises the front process layer or the back process layer, the front perimeter barrier and the back perimeter barrier and the front cavity and the back cavity.
 5. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the front plenum or the back oxidant plenum is embedded in the first frame.
 6. (canceled)
 7. The fuel cell layer of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the front plenum or the back oxidant plenum is embedded in the first or the second frame.
 8. The fuel cell layer of claim 4, wherein at least a portion of the front plenum or the back oxidant plenum is embedded in the first frame.
 9. (canceled)
 10. The fuel cell stack of claim 1, further comprising a second front process layer and a second back process layer, a second front perimeter barrier disposed on the second front process layer and a second back perimeter barrier disposed on the second back process layer, and a second front cavity and a second back cavity formed in the first or the second frame, wherein the front cavity is in communication with the front side of the fuel cell layer, and the back cavity is in communication with the back side of the fuel cell layer, and further, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer facilitates a transport process between the front plenum and the back oxidant plenum.
 11. (canceled)
 12. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel is hydrogen, hydrogen from reformate, a methanol, an ethanol, formic acid, ammonia, or combinations thereof.
 13. (canceled)
 14. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the oxidant comprises is air, oxygen, mixtures of inert gas and oxygen, and or combinations thereof.
 15. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front perimeter barrier completely encloses the back cavity.
 16. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the back perimeter barrier completely encloses the front cavity.
 17. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer comprises a thin flat construction.
 18. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer comprises a thin curvilinear construction.
 19. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first unit fuel cell and the second unit fuel cell are disposed parallel to each other and orthogonally around a central axis.
 20. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first unit fuel cell and the second unit fuel cell are disposed parallel to each other and parallel to the central axis.
 21. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first unit fuel cell is disposed at a different angle to the second unit fuel cell.
 22. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first unit fuel cell and the second unit fuel cell are formed into groups of parallel unit fuel cells and each group is disposed at an arbitrary angle to adjacent groups.
 23. (canceled)
 24. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer has a three dimensional shape selected from the group consisting of: a cylinder, a prismatic shape, a boxlike construction and an irregular shape.
 25. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein fuel cell layer surrounds the front plenum and conforms to the shape of the front plenum.
 26. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front plenum is enclosed by a device.
 27. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer comprises between two unit fuel cells and 50,000 unit fuel cells.
 28. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer comprises between two unit fuel cells and 500 unit fuel cells.
 29. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the fuel cell layer comprises between two unit fuel cells and 100 unit fuel cells.
 30. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer comprises an ion conducting material.
 31. The fuel cell layer of claim 30, wherein the ion conducting material is: a proton exchange membrane, an electrolyte filled micro-porous structure, a liquid electrolyte trapped in a mesh, or combinations thereof.
 32. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity or the back cavity is a low aspect ratio cavity, and wherein the low aspect ratio cavity is at least partially filled with a catalyst, and wherein the low aspect ratio and the catalyst form a gas diffusion electrode.
 33. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer comprises an electronically conductive material.
 34. The fuel cell layer of claim 33, wherein the electronically conductive material is: a metal, a filled metal composite, a filled microstructure of polymer, filled epoxy composite, a graphite composite, or combinations thereof.
 35. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front perimeter barrier and the back perimeter barrier comprises a material that prevents the uncontrolled mixing of the fuel and the oxidant.
 36. The fuel cell layer of claim 35, wherein the material is a metal, a silicone, a rubber, a polyamide, a synthetic rubber, an epoxy, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinyldiflouride, composites thereof, laminates thereof, alloys thereof, or combinations thereof.
 37. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front perimeter barrier or the back perimeter barrier comprises a form that prevents the uncontrolled mixing of the fuel and the oxidant.
 38. The fuel cell layer of claim 37, wherein the form is a micro-structure or a three dimensional structure creating a tortuous path.
 39. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer comprises at least one thin sheet.
 40. The fuel cell layer of claim 39, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer comprises a thickness between 1 nanometer and 2 centimeters.
 41. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first process layer comprises a thickness different from the second process layer.
 42. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer is an undulating front process layer, the back process layer is an undulating back process layer, the front cavity is an undulating front cavity, the back cavity is an undulating back cavity, the front perimeter barrier is an undulating front perimeter barrier, and the back perimeter barrier is an undulating back perimeter barrier.
 43. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity or the back cavity is at least partially filled with a gas diffusion electrode.
 44. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer and the back process layer are alternatively ionic conducting process layers and electronic conducting process layers.
 45. The fuel cell layer of claim 43, wherein the gas diffusion electrode comprises a porous conductive layer and a catalyst, wherein the catalyst adjoins an ionic conducting layer forming an anode or a cathode, and wherein the ionic conducting layer electrically connects the catalyst to an electrically conducting layer enabling current to flow between the gas diffusion electrode and a second gas diffusion electrode creating a bipolar fuel cell layer.
 46. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the porous conductive layer comprises: a polymer bound carbon composite, a micro-structured carbon monolith, a porous conductive media, a porous metal foam, conductive micro-structure, or combinations thereof.
 47. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the porous conductive layer comprises at least two layers of differing porous materials.
 48. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer and the back process layer are ionically conductive.
 49. The fuel cell layer of claim 43, wherein the gas diffusion electrode comprises a first catalyst and a second catalyst; wherein the first catalyst adjoins the first process layer and the second catalyst adjoins the second process layer forming an edge collected uni-polar fuel cell layer with two identical polarity electrodes in the gas diffusion electrode.
 50. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the catalyst is a noble metal catalyst, a transition metal catalyst, alloys thereof or combinations thereof.
 51. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the catalyst comprises is a carbon supported catalyst or a thin film formed by spraying, sputtering, electroplating, printing, pulsed laser deposition, and combinations thereof.
 52. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the catalyst layer is a cracked layer.
 53. The fuel cell layer of claim 45, wherein the transport of the fuel from the front plenum and the oxidant from the back plenum to the catalyst layer is by diffusion.
 54. The fuel cell layer of claim 43, wherein the transport of the fuel from the front plenum and the oxidant from the back plenum to the catalyst layer is by forced convection.
 55. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity or the back cavity has an aspect ratio greater than 1 cm/cm.
 56. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity or the back cavity has an aspect ratio between 1 and 100 cm/cm.
 57. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity or the back cavity has an aspect ratio between 2.5 and 15 cm/cm.
 58. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front cavity and the back cavity have different aspect ratios.
 59. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first perimeter barrier and second perimeter barrier each comprise a height ranging from 100 nanometers to 10 millimeters and a width ranging from 10 nanometers to 5 millimeters.
 60. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the first perimeter barrier and second perimeter barrier comprise widths which vary from being narrower on one portion of the first perimeter barrier or the second perimeter barrier to wider on another portion of the first perimeter barrier or the second perimeter barrier.
 61. An electrical appliance, comprising as a source of power, the fuel cell layer according to claim
 1. 62. The electrical appliance of claim 61, wherein the electrical appliance is an airplane, a car, a laser pointer, a cellular phone, a wireless phone, a projector, a television, a CD player, a radio, or a flashlight.
 63. The fuel cell layer of claim 1, wherein the front process layer or the back process layer is formed from two or more thin process layers that are placed in contact with each other. 